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牡蛎 (mǔ lì) — oyster

Definition

noun
oyster
Measure word · 个

Examples

  • 牡蛎。
    Wǒ zài hǎi biān chī le hěn duō xīn xiān mǔ lì.
    I ate a lot of fresh oysters at the seaside.
  • 牡蛎。
    Zhè jiā diàn de mǔ lì tāng wèi dào hěn hǎo.
    The oyster soup at this restaurant tastes great.
  • 牡蛎。
    Tā yí cì néng chī èr shí gè mǔ lì.
    He can eat twenty oysters in one sitting.

Origin

Single-morpheme word
构词法gòucífǎ
联绵liánmiánBound pair

Two characters that only ever appear together, spelling one ancient two-syllable word.

牡mǔ
蛎lì

The characters 牡 and 蛎 carry no meaning of their own here; together they name the true oyster.

Sound-only characters

Two or more meaningful parts placed together so that their meanings combine into a new one.

牡 combines 牛 (cattle) with 丄; some explanations say 丄 depicts a penis to represent male, and this part was later written 土.

Open 牡 →

Most characters — around four in five — are built this way: one part hints at the meaning, the other at the pronunciation.

This origin belongs to the traditional form 蠣; 蛎 is its simplified writing.

Meaning part形符xíngfú
虫虫chónginsect; bug; creature
Sound part声符shēngfú
厲
厲lì蠣
Same sound today

The traditional form 蠣 pairs 虫 (insect; bug; creature) with 厲 for sound; the simplified 蛎 is a shorthand, and its right side is not the historical sound part.

Open 蛎 →
Appears in
Meat & Seafood

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